News for the Week of June 13, 2016 – June 19, 2016

Bourdais and Bell score class wins at Le Mans – Sebastien Bourdais was part of the GTE-Pro winning team in the No. 68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team US Ford GT in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. Townsend Bell drove for the GTE-Am winning combination in the No. 62 Scuderia Corsa. Scott Dixon scored a podium in the No. 69 Ford Chip Ganassi Team US Ford GT alongside Ryan Briscoe. The fourth Verizon IndyCar Series driver in the field, Mikhail Aleshin, finished 7th in the P2 category and 11th overall in the No. 27 SMP Racing entry. – NBC Sports – (6/19/2016)

Hinch and Rahal visor cams from Road America – INDYCAR’s excellent series of visor cam videos continues with James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal from the Verizon IndyCar Series test at Road America on Wednesday. – INDYCAR – (6/17/2016)

Jalponik’s Rossi Q&A – Jalopnik hosted a reader Q&A with Andretti Autosport’s Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Winner Alexander Rossi and it’s a pretty entertaining read. Check it out at the link. – Jalopnik – (6/16/2016)

Keselowski tests Verizon IndyCar Series car with Penske at Road America – Team Penske NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski took Simon Pagenaud’s car for a spin during the Verizon IndyCar Series test at Road America on Wednesday. Here is a video of him taking off in the car. “First thing I told Simon is he has a very secure job, at least from me,” Keselowski said after the test. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his team, everyone at Team Penske. This 22 Menards team, they did a great job today and I had a lot of fun going with them. Simon was fast, really fast and gave me a good rabbit to chase. I learned a ton today and had a lot of fun. I’ve got to let it soak in here to think about all of it.” – INDYCAR – (6/15/2016)

Toronto event announces kids under 12 enter for free as well as new entertainment options – “The one-month countdown to Honda Indy Toronto is on and event organizers revealed today a robust line up of off-track activities for the upcoming festival, which runs July 15-17 at Exhibition Place. With 55 per cent more interactive exhibits, activities and vendors than last year, race fans can expect more things to see and do all day than ever before. Families will also find accessing the event a little lighter on their wallets as organizers announce that kids under 12 will be admitted free this summer, when accompanied by an adult who has purchased a ticket.” More at the link. – Honda Indy Toronto – (6/15/2016)

RLL announces Gehl as primary sponsor for No. 15 at Road America – “Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that the Gehl brand, part of Manitou Americas, Inc. has returned as co-primary sponsor of the team’s No. 15 Verizon IndyCar Series entry for Graham Rahal in the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America June 24-26. The official name of the entry will be the No. 15 Gehl / D-A Lubricant Honda.” See the livery on our No. 15 livery page here. – RLL – (6/15/2016)

Two high-level race courses set to be built in Pinal County, AZ – From Charles Bradley of Motorsport.com: “A brand new 2,360-acre ‘recreational motorsports destination’ is to be built in Pinal County, Arizona – including two high-level FIA/FIM-spec road courses on the same site. Attesa will feature two, 2.6-mile road courses, a karting track, a driver experience centre and a multi-surface racing and event area. The complex will also feature a private airport with a 6,000-foot-long runway. A private club and residential community will also be built…All major sports car, stock car, IndyCar and motorcycle series will be eligible to race at Attesa. The karting circuit will be built to FIA/CIK specifications.” – Motorsport.com – (6/15/2016)

Miller’s Mailbag 6/15/16 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is a great read as always. – RACER – (6/15/2016)

Trackside podcast 6/14/16 – 1070 The Fan’s Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee is a great listen as always. The pair recaps the wild weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. – 1070 The Fan – (6/15/2016)

Team Pelfrey names Grist as Lights No. 3 driver for Road America and beyond – “Team Pelfrey Indy Lights announced today that Mazda Road to Indy veteran Garett Grist will pilot the No. 3 BuyGapGuard.com Team Pelfrey Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Mazda machine for the remaining road course races in 2016.” “I am very excited to be joining team Pelfrey for the rest of the 2016 Indy Lights season,” said Grist. “The team has proven they can win races and run up front. I’d like to thank Dale Pelfrey for the opportunity he has given me. It wouldn’t be possible without him and my other supporters, Lander Property Management and Mac tools.” – Indy Lights – (6/14/2016)

Frye further explains Texas decisions – RACER’s Robin Miller has posted a nice update from INDYCAR’s Jay Frye on the decision making behind postponing the Texas race to August and not restarting the race from scratch. Frye: “Obviously, we’re so thankful Josef wasn’t hurt too badly and Conor escaped injury but what if we let them restart in August and there was a big pile-up on the first lap but they missed it? They were 30-some laps behind and now they have a chance to get a good finish. That impacts the championship.” Miller asked if it was possible to reinstate those 29 laps run under caution and make the distance 206 laps, Frye responded: “That’s not a bad idea, so it’s something we might consider.” – RACER – (6/14/2016)

Hildebrand to fill in for Newgarden at Road America test – JR Hildebrand has confirmed that he will fill in for Josef Newgarden while he recovers from injuries suffered in his incident at Texas Motor Speedway. Hildebrand will be in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing machine at the Verizon IndyCar Series test day at Road America on Wednesday, June 15th. Update: ECR has confirmed this news. – NBC Sports – (6/13/2016)

Honda Indy Toronto releases weekend schedule – The full schedule for the INDYCAR weekend in Toronto has been posted. Check out the schedule for the Honda Indy Toronto at the link. – Honda Indy Toronto – (6/13/2016)

INDYCAR stars to appear on “American Ninja Warrior” on Monday night – Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Josef Newgarden will appear on the previously recorded episode of “American Ninja Warrior” that will air on NBC Monday night at 8PM ET. More information at the link. – NBC Sports – (6/13/2016)

INDYCAR working on improved cockpit protection for ’17 – Bill Pappas, INDYCAR VP of competition and engineering, told Motorsport.com “We’re working flat out on figuring what is the right way to substantially improve cockpit protection. We were hoping to get something out before the end of the year and we’re still hoping for that. Newgarden’s shunt just reiterates the importance of that.” Later in the piece he tells them that they’re leaning towards the aeroscreen that Red Bull Racing has tested on their F1 car and would like to have something in place for 2017. – Motorsport.com – (6/13/2016)

Newgarden suffers fractured right clavicle and hand in Texas incident – “Verizon IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden sustained a fractured right clavicle and a small fracture on his right hand in an incident in today’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden, driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing, collided with the Honda of Conor Daly of Dale Coyne Racing on Lap 42 of the race and was airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.” – INDYCAR – (6/12/2016)

Firestone 600 postponed for August 27th – The Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was postponed to Saturday, August 27th on Sunday afternoon after more rain hit the track after a red flag. It will be a one day show with a practice session, autograph session, and the resumption of the race. The race will restart on Lap 72 with James Hinchcliffe in the lead. Relive the progress of the race before the rain delay with our live blog here. – INDYCAR – (6/12/2016)

Munoz wins first career pole at Texas – Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz won his first career Verizon IndyCar Series pole in qualifying for the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway with a 2-lap average of 217.137mph. The rest of the Top 5 was Dixon, Castroneves, Sato, and Newgarden. Chaves was unable to make a qualifying attempt after a crash in practice and will start last next to Dale Coyne Racing teammate Daly in P22. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (6/10/2016)

“Letter to My Younger Self” by Mario Andretti – Mario Andretti has an excellent piece on The Players’ Tribune called “Letter to My Younger Self”. Way too good to shorten so check it out at the link. – The Player’s Tribune – (6/9/2016)

Boston GP still hasn’t refunded all ticket buyers – Boston’s WCVB reports that the Grand Prix of Boston organizers have refunded $400,000 worth of purchased race tickets but that wasn’t enough, some still haven’t been refunded, and they’re out of money. The attorney for the Grand Prix of Boston, Michael Goldberg, told WCVB investigators that they’re trying to recoup a sanctioning fee paid to INDYCAR to allow them to refund ticket buyers. – WCVB – (6/9/2016)

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